TWO cygnets whose father was shot dead and their mother injured are back at their home on the lake at The Lawns in Old Town.

The parents and their four cygnets were popular residents at the park until they were attacked in November.

But after the cob was shot dead, its mate and the cygnets were rescued and taken to the South West Swan Sanctuary.

A 15-year-old was later sentenced to two months in a secure unit and two of community supervision.

Another man, Damien Penrose, 18, of Torrington Court, Swindon, is due to be sentenced by the town's magistrates on Wednesday.

Both admitted intentionally killing a wild bird, injuring its mate and having a loaded air rifle in Lawn Woods without lawful authority.

Linda Shand, who walks her dogs in the park discovered the dead cob after the shooting.

But she was delighted when the two cygnets and another white swan appeared on the lake.

"We've got swans again for 2004," she said. "What is wonderful is that they came here on their own.

"It is amazing how much the shooting affected the whole community. We were totally stunned. It was the way it happened and how the female was trying to protect her young."

She said the regular dog walkers were convinced that the original cygnets had returned because dogs did not worry them and because they were accepting lettuce, which is what they were fed while they were being cared for.

She organised a collection, which raised £180 for the sanctuary. "A lot of it was down to the Advertiser. People actually came down after reading the story."

Sue Hulbert, who runs the sanctuary with her husband Roger, said three of the four cygnets had been released at Coate Water and she wasn't surprised to hear that two of them had made their way back to their old home.

She added that the white swan might even be an older brother or sister from the previous year.

"What will probably happen is that they will stay for a while it could be a few weeks or a couple of years and then a pair will move in and they will go."

The mother swan and one of her cygnets are still at the sanctuary.

"I think she will be with us until the spring," said Mrs Hulbert.

"She still has a problem with her eye which might mean that she needs X rays at the National Swan Sanctuary in Egham.

"The pellet is still in there and it is causing a squint."

She explained that eye damage was a serious problem for swans which need to be able to judge perspective when they fly.

Her last cygnet was too immature to be released with its siblings and will probably be set free on a private lake with a group of cygnets in March or April.